The first Kiss
by Tigerlillyth
Summary: My favourite Pandora Hearts couple! It s Lady Sharon s birthday and she wishes to dance with her true love. But... he isn t there...yet. And what about the sly guy, trying to get her hand in a dance? How will her dream of a Cinderella-deal end? And wich part does Break play in it? Read if you wanna know
1. The third dance

**Hiya guys, here´s my third story! Yay, I finally finished it. Well this one´s about the Pandora Hearts couple Break/Sharon. I hope you like it, I´m kinda fond of it myself... *beams with pride* uhm... anyway, onto the story! R&R, Have fun!**

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I own nothing of Pandora Hearts **

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**the first dance**

Sunset had already begun sending it´s rozen light over the country when Lady Sharon began to undress. Sighing, she opened the buttons at the back, pulling off her dress and laying it neatly on her bed, picking up another one. It sure deserved the name 'Ball gown' with it´s violet reddish touch, matching her eyes and with the goldes laces covering her chest in a criss-cross pattern down to her waist, where it ended in a small belt, connecting to a huge skirt, draping itself around her, embracing the fine figure of her stature. Lovely roses spread across the cloth, dressing it in the most beautiful manner.

Tonight was going to be a party. And although her mother had said that only her birthday was to be celebrtated once in a while, Sharon knew that the real plan was to get her 'Socially started', in other words 'married'.

As a woman, she knew it was her duty to marry and bring forth many lovely children and be happy with just that, but no man would ever understand her status in the Pandora Organisation and acknoledge it. Nobody. But for a few exceptions, every other man would just give her a castle, lots of money and destroy all of the hard work she and her friends had built up with so much effort.

If it were up to her, everything having to do with 'marriage' would be going completely different. She would be able to choose the man she loved and whom she would be willing to devote her life for. She wanted to choose, hell, she already had chosen.

And she would get her way. That was her only true wish for happiness.

To choose the man she would be able to love and be able to love the man she chose.

A small pearl of sweat dropped from her forehead as she closed the last button at her back. She didn´t want to bother any servants with it, since everybody was so busy with the prepariations and what kind of woman would she be, if she weren´t even able to button up her own dress.

Somebody knocked at the door.

"Come in" she called, hoping it was something good.

It was Reim.

Blushing, he adjusted his glasses before reaching her a small note, torn from a piece of paper.

"I...I´m sorry, Lady Sharon," he told her," I found this before your door with your name on it and I thought it would be better to hand it to you before anyone else reads it."

Sharon smiled. That was Reim. Always thoughtful and helping people without the single trace of selfishness.

She took the note and unfolded it.

It was from Break.

"Milady," it said. "I´m sorry, I probably will be running late. Reim will have presumably brought you this letter, so please tell him not to worry and that I will come. Save some cake for me

Xerxes Break"

Her knees felt suddenly weak and she had to sit down. Surpressing the anger and the disappointment rising in her heart, she sighed, forcing herself to keep back tears from coming.

He wouldn´t be there.

Or 'he would be late' like he had written. But with Break you would never know.

Then she remembered that Reim was still standing before her, playing nervously with his glasses.

She forced a smile and stood up again.

"Thank you, Reim. Xerxes will be late, but don´t worry. He´s coming." And if not, he´d better run for his life, because not even Mad Hatter would be able to help him then.

Reim visibly seemed to relax at her words, but nontheless, he was still wondering off to where his friend had gone.

"Well then...I´ll... be going to the saloon, looking after the decorations" he said, backing away with a bow, then closing the door behind him.

_Oh oh. You´re in trouble, Break. _He murmured as he walked away. No one could possibly escape Lady Sharon´s rath. Especially when it came to love.

The young woman let out a deep sigh again as she opened her wallet with her jewelry. She seldom wore any, but on this occasion, she would.

Time flew by as quick as the sparrows outside her window, until the clock over the mantelpiece finally stroke eight. Inbetween, Alice had come in to check on her, followed by Oz, with whom she had had a very interesting conversation about her favourite topic: love. She had known that the young boy had had an eye on the brunett beauty for a longer time, but it had taken him enough time to realize his feelings. So she had decided to help out a bit, talking to him about it and giving him some good advice. And to her utter astonishment, he had been the one to start the topic at all, that´s why she was excitedly waiting for something to happen. If there was anything she hated more than cold tea, then it surely was a love story without a happy ending. **(A/N I totally agree there...^^)**

She snorted. She would get her Cinderella dream, even if it was only for one night. And she would definitely dance with Break.

The old clock told her with eight straight notes, that it was time to go now.

Sighing again, she heaved herself from the chair she had been sitting in and braced herself. No one would ruin this day.

It was her '20th' birthday after all. At least that´s what everyone, who wasn´t in the secret, thought.

With a few, graceful steps, she walked out of her room, down the corridor leading to the ball room, from where she could already hear the voices of the invited guests.

The watchmen outside nodded as she announced her name and they opened the huge oak door.

Suddenly, the room went silent. About a hundred mouths agape stared at her, the future Dutchess Lady Sharon Rainsworth.

Silent whispering started to rise, as she paced her way to her mother on the other side of the room.

"Beautiful..."

"Like a queen..."

"...a goddess...",

was what she overheard as the crowd parted before her like the sea before Moses.

As if they were expecting something, the hundred pairs of eyes followed her every movement.

A smile and a nod was all she recieved from her mother when she arrived at her side. **( A/N I know that her mother is dead, but I need her for this story, because her grandma in the wheelchair doesn´t look so good at a party, so I resurrected her...) **Raising the glass that was handed to her, she cleared her throat to speak up, her eyes wandering through the faces, when she spotted Alice and Oz. The sight of those two holding hands and smiling up at her gave her new strength as she chose her words.

"I...I thank you for appearing so numerous to this ocasion. Now I don´t want to hold you in suspense with many words, so I´ll just declare the dancing floor open."

A smile, that was all it took her, to completely put the entire crown under her spell.

The applause grew steadily silent as the music started to play by a very well known orchestra and the first pairs started to dance.

She talked a bit to Gil about what she thought she would get as a present from them (Them being Gil, Oz, Alice,Reim and Break). After that she just stood there, pondering over some things and smiling about how narrow Alice and Oz had had danced before, when a tall, young, handsome man stepped in front of her. The first thought that came to mind at his appearance was "dark".

Although his face was young and good looking, she couldn´t help but dislike the fact how his deep blue eyes scanned her.

Holding out a hand, the man said:

"Lady Rainsworth, if I may introduce myself, Sir Charles, Duke of Rendersom.

May I ask for the grace of this dance?"

His glance sent a chill down her spine, when she suddenly felt a tug on her arm.

"Sorry" Oz grinned. "This Lady´s taken." And with that, he pulled the astonished but thankful Sharon into a slow waltz.

"Thank you Oz." She smiled.

"I guess something went quite well with Alice?" she added.

Oz blushed, still grinning. "Yes, it did."

And that was all Sharon wanted to hear.

"Why wouldn´t you let me dance with..uh..."

She had forgotten the name. It wasn´t that important, anyways.

"Mr. Cold-eyes?" Oz finshed her sentence. Sharon nodded.

"Well, honestly, I´ve heard some pretty bad rumours about him, so...don´t get _too_ close to him, okay?" the boy smiled at her.

"I won´t" she promised. "Not even volontarily. But what rumours?"

Oz´ face went a bit dark as he shot an unfriendly glance at the guy. Fortunately, he was looking away. "I´m not quite sure, but he´s definitely got some knoledge about Sablier. Frankly, I don´t like him."

The dance ended and with the traditional bow so did their conversation.

"I´ll be careful" she said with a twinkle in her eye, as Oz put a hand on her back and directed her towards where Alice was standing.

Sharon smiled knowingly at her, which made the young girl blush and look away, but she did seem very happy.

Alice too was very beautiful, not only in Oz´ eyes. Her long brown hair was in perfect harmony with her wine red dress and her long hair only complemented her slim figure.

Suddenly Oz nudged Alice.

"You want something to eat?"

The girls face lit up.

"Yes!Uhm...please" she smiled shyly.

Oz grinned blushing, and made his way to the buffet with a small plate in his hand.

Sharon took the opportunity to squeeze a bit of information out of her self-prolaimed little sister.

"So?" she raised both eyebrows in excitement.

"So what?" Alice rplied bluntly, already sensing where this was going.

"So... did you tell him you loved him?"

Embarrassed, Alice put the fingertips of her index fingers together and looked at the floor.

"Well, actually, he told me first, then I told him and..."

She blushed furiously. "And... we kissed..." she explaned in her usual platonic way.

Sharon nearly jumped to the ceiling.

"And...?" her eyes shot needles at the girl before her, urging her to tell her everything.

"It was...beautiful" Alice whispered, her eyes slowly drifting somewhere into the distance, smiling faintly.

Sharon took her hands.

"I´m very happy for you." Her heartwarmimg smile hit Alice deeply. It was actually quite unfair that she had gotten Oz and Sharon was condemned to marry some clown. At the word 'clown' Alice´s brain made 'click'. She had been observing her best friend´s behaviour around the clown and lately, very much blushing had been involved with her talking to him. And that was the answer to the question whom Sharon wished to marry. She was in love with the clown. Not any clown, no. The one and only coming-through-the-closet-clown also known as Xerxes Break.

"Alice?" she heard Sharons soft voice asking.

"What´s the matter? You´re spacing out."

Alice grabbed Sharon´s sleeves.

"What about _your_ happiness?" she asked.

"Wha-" now Sharon was confused.

"What about it?"

"You´re here to be married off to some unknown Duke of idiotism. Aren´t you going to do something about it?"

Sharon lowered her eyes, tears began to form.

"I can´t." She whispered. "I would be the amusement of the whole society if I refused to marry. I´d be laughed at, isolated from Pandora Organisation and sent to be a nun." She sighed. "You´re happy, Alice. I´ll help to keep it that way. As for me, I´m just not destined to... marry a true love."

Throwing herself forward, Alice hugged her.

"A...Alice..." Sharon stuttered,being very surprised by her action.

"Don´t give up on your dreams, Sharon-neesan" the brunette whispered.

Her friend nodded and hugged her back.

This whole conversation over, Gil had been carefully watching the two girls from a safe distance. As Oz went to fetch something to eat for Alice, he glanced towards Gil at the other side of the room, grinning and holding up two fingers.

Smirking, Gil nodded and lifted his thumb to show that he had understood.

Two fingers meant that it was his turn.

He continued watching the girls and realized the change in Sharons mimik. He knew that Oz and the stupid rabbit were a couple now and he didn´t really mind it, except for he´d kill her, if she ever was to break his masters heart, but he also wished the same for Lady Sharon. **(A/N I hope you know I mean the love thing, not the killing...^^)**

It was an open secret between them that she liked Break very much more than she´d usually be allowed, only Break didn´t seem to notice the open signs of her attraction to him. Her slight blushes, he movements, everything.

Suddenly, he saw Sir Asshole (aka "Sir Rendersom") coming over, aiming his steps at the now hugging pair of girls.

"Shit." It escaped him. Oz had warned him about that guy. He glanced to his young master, who had also noticed the dawning threat, but was too far away to do anything, so Gil had to take action. Fighting his way through the crowd, he slowed himself down, arriving just in time before the Duke could say anything, and held out a gloved hand.

"May I dance with you?" he smiled.

Sharon nodded happily while Gil exchanged a meaningfull look with Alice, who nodded slightly.

Noticing that Sir cold-eyes had once again failed to put forward his request for a dance with her, she took Gil´s outstreched fingers and let herself be led to the dance floor. They didn´t talk much, Gilbert just wished her a happy birthday and let her enjoy the four or five minutes he had bought her.

But the whole dance through, Sharon couldn´t shake off the feeling that Gil and Oz were playing a sly game, only they knew of.

Of course she had realized the glances being exchanged between them, but she couldn´t make anything of it.

The dance was rather long, but she didn´t mind it. She liked Gil, he had a honest heart and an unshakable loyalty towards those he called friends.

After they had finished, Alice ran up to them, linking her arm with Sharon´s.

"What´s up with you?" the young dutchess laughed.

"I´m not letting you out of my sight" Alice growled through gritted teeth.

"How about out of your grasp?" Sharon suggested playfully. Alice just shook her head.

"Duke of Idiotism is after you and I´m positive his intentions aren´t good."

These words warmed Sharon´s heart.

Even Alice worries about me, she thought.

"...just a pity, that I´m a girl and can´t dance with you" she heard her say.

"You would go to that extent to protect me?"

Alice shrugged. "Yeah, sure. You´re my friend after all."

Sharon laughed heartily. She was very glad to have such friends.

Oz was standing a bit away from the rest and waved them over to him and Alice immediately changed course after noticing and joined him, still tugging along the young dutchess.

Sharon sighed and leaned herself against the wall behind her, looking out for Gil. He had suddenly disappeared.

Oz handed her a small piece of chocolate. "If you´re wondering where Gil is, don´t worry." His twinkle in his emerald eyes made her suspicious. But she didn´t ask. As for now, she was too much enjoying having to dance with her friends only, although she already feared that she would have to go through the torture of dancing with every man in this room that could be a potential husband.

They were now standing next to one of the huge glass doors to the long balcony. The glass of which the doors were made of, reflected the candles and through one opened one, no clouds were to be seen in the moonlight-filled night sky.

Oz leaned towards Sharon. "Would you like to be alone with your thoughts?"

She nodded, thankful that he had noticed her exhiaustion, so Oz turned to Alice.

"Do you want to dance with me again?"

Alice nodded happily. And while dnced closely, the were completely lost in each others eyes. Lilac passion met emerald joy and neither of them would have known a place were they´d rather be right now.

The young duchess smiled. Love sure was such a beautiful thing.

Suddenly, out if the corner of her eye, she saw someone coming towards her with a steady pace.

Sir Rendersom. And he was coming straight at her. When he finally reached her, he bowed respectfully and held out a hand once again.

"May I now request a dance with you? I think you owe me one..."

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**Well, that went...well ^^ see you in a... year or two maybe for the next chapter... :) Haha, I´m just being mean right now...,sorry. Be sure to stick around the next chapter, It´s gonna get intersting :D**

**There surely will be lots of... Break and...Sharon...and of course, yours truly, Sir Asshole ^^**

**see ya! oh and the little things you call 'reviews'... be sure to leave lots behind, I simply couldn´t survive without them *Big grin***


	2. A Bloody fight

**Ok, here goes. Sorry,for the endless wait, guys, School´s keeping me pretty busy, but now I finally found the time... ^^ So, in reward, it´s gonna be extra long :D**

**Hope you like it, I sure do. Took me ´till after midnight, this one.**

Sir Rendersom was coming straight at her. When he finally reached her, he bowed respectfully and held out a hand once again.

"May I now request a dance with you? I think you owe me one..."

A long pause of silence filled the moment, only the glistening of the curtains before the open window was to be heard. Sharon was at a loss what to say. Oz, Alice and Gilbert had warned her from this guy and now she was left alone with him _and_ he wanted to dance with her. But on the other hand, the wouldn´t have left her without a reason, would they? No, she trusted her friends and thinking somewhere along these lines, she wanted to sink into a reverence, when a hand around her waist stoppped her in the movement.

"The only thing she owes you, Charlie, is a good beating"

Her eyes widened. This voice, she knew so well. This voice, comforting her in her dreams, this voice, that was now so near to her that she could hardly believe it.

Coming straight out of the night shadows, Xerxes leaned down to her. "Milady, may we proceed to a dance, before I lose my temper and throw a cake at him? I wouldn´t want to dishonour the cake like that, so maybe..."

Had this been any other situation and any other person speaking to her, Sharon would have laughed at him, or called him crazy, or both. But as this was Break, she Break she knew so well, the Break that she so loved in her own way, and she knew he wasn´t joking as much as he would like to seem, so, she gracefully took his hand and smiled at him.

"So, just for the grace of the cake, I´ll dance with you."

Break chuckled and led her to the dancefloor, tighting his grasp around her waist and swirling her around to the beautiful sounds of Mendelssohns Op.19 n°4. **(A/N: I suggest, you listen to it sometime, it´s really beautiful!) **His grin didn´t fade away one bit, it only changed a little, turning into a true, genuine smile, dedicated only to her and this moment, and not even the frown of his young mistress could bring down his good mood.

"Where were you?" Sharon whispered.

Break rolled his eye.

"You know, sometimes here and sometimes there and maybe even nowhere..."

"I´m serious, you know..." Oh, if she weren´t dancing with him, she surely would have hit him with a fan, made of good old wood and she surely wouldn´t be stingy about the pain.

He smiled again. "After breakfast, I recieved a message from glassesboy, that something fishy had been going on, down by the village, and that a certain someone had been collecting information about Pandora. Knowing that your Ladyship was too busy with her preparations, I went by myself, but I did leave you a letter explaining you everything, didn´t I ?"

It took Sharon a while to understand that 'glassesboy' was actually Reim Lunettes, but as she comprehended the sense of his sentence, she shot him a death glare.

"Your letter didn´t explain anything, you just told me not to worry and you would be late."

"You forgot to mention that I asked you to keep me some cake!" Break grinned.

"Well, I´m sorry, but Alice has already eaten it up.." Sharon pouted playfully.

He growled slightly in played anger "Ah, she´s sure gonna pay for that... Is there at least some liquor left?"

She just laughed heartily and enjoyed the feeling of them being so close together. This was the part of the evening she had been looking forward to the most.

"So, you went to the village to ensure my safety...?" she then asked, not quite sure, if she had gotten the essence of what he had said before.

"Yes, that´s right. Apparently, this Mr. Unknown had also started a file on information about you..."

"About me?" Now, she sure was surprised. True, information about Pandora was weird enough, but about her?

"I don´t know, I never saw the content, only the writing on the folder with your name on it and a question mark."

Sharon wasn´t sure at all what to make of this, but she had a vague feeling about who this Mr. Could be and her feminin 6th sense never mislead her. Then, she realized that Break´s face had lost his smile. He was rather ernest now, completely focussing on her, eye fixed upon her face.

"He also had a file about Sablier." He added with a sarcastic undertone.

Sharon frowned. "Break, ...I think I know who this guy could be..." she started, but his reaction showed her, that he already knew. He just nodded. "Oz told me, Sir Asshole tried to make a move on you two times?"

"Three times," she corrected him,"but the first was intercepted by Oz, the second by Gil and at the third time, you made your entrance..."

He sighed. "I don´t have any proof, but all evidences seem to lead up to the same conclusion: Sir Rendersome is a no good, flirtatious, womanizing, monkey headed..."

"Take a break right there!" she interrupted, before he could get impolite.

Disappointed, he let out the air he had been holding in and pouted. Then, he got serious again and concentrated on the woman in his arms that looked up at him attentively.

"I´m glad you eventually came, you know" she smiled.

"I promised, didn´t I ?" he said, returning it. And he realized that as the music came to the final chord, she stepped up closer to him and put her arms around his neck.

"Can I have one last dance?" she whispered, blushing slightely. Rosen irises gazed upon his red ones with a question in them.

"You can have as many as you like," he replied, pulling her closer to him. A slow, melancholic song started and the couples on the dancefloor soon began to exchange themselves with the ones that had been standing outside prevoiusly. Suddenly, from the corner of her eye, Sharon spotted Oz and Alice in a similar postition to hers, only they were not dancing. Catching Sharons gaze, Alice suddenly leaned forward, capturing Oz in a perfect lip lock, which he eagerly replied, but Alice kept one eye open and blinked to her. Sharon flushed deep red at the thought that her soulsister was actually implying that she should do the same to the one she loved.

_But, would he even return the kiss?_ She wondered. _Does he even think of me that way?_

She was so uncertain about what to do about this. Should she dare? Or not? Fact was, that now could be the one and only chance for it, since she didn´t know when she would get another private moment with him again. She´d do anything to keep their relationship in the good way it was, but what if she could make it even better? She really loved him even more than her position in Pandora. Making her mind up, that now really _was _her only chance, she braced herself. Looking up at him through her eyelashes, she couldn´t hide a smile that stealed itself onto her lips as her regard traced his features. The flashing smile he returned made her heartbeat increase so much that she nearly lost the rythm of the song they were dancing to.

"I really enjoy dancing with you," he abruptly remarked.

She flushed in a furious red. "A...And why would that be so?"

"You´re a great dancer. Besides, I don´t need to talk to you about unimportant things. You understand me, even without words."

She suddenly felt like tearing up, throwing herself against him and quietly crying to him, whispering 'Yes, I love you',... but she could hold herself back at the last moment.

"I like dancing with you, too, you know,..." she carefully replied. Then she realized, that he was leaning down to her, slowly closing the gap between them.

"You know,... I..." she slowly began, but suddenly, a gust of wind blew in from the window and put out all the candles, setting the room in darkness.A chill wandered down her spine as slowly, but constantly the cold air crept upon them.

The mass of people that had previously been enjoying themselves, now went immediately quiet and then started whispering anxiously. She couldn´t make out anyone in the dark, not even Oz, Alice, or Gil, she only felt Break´s warmth comforting her with his presence. Then she felt something at her ear.

" I don´t think this is a coincidence" Break murmured under his breath. "I can´t see much, I only noticed that the lights went out."

Frightened at the sudden proximity, her fingers clutched into the fabric of his costume and she felt his presence now surrounding her even more, as he passed his arms around her.

"Don´t worry, it´s only me." he chuckled slightly. Letting out a suppressed sigh, she relaxed hersef as she realized how childish she had been, yet she didn´t break the embrace, it simply felt too good. But as slowly her vision began to adjust to the dim darkness filling the room, she noticed someone creeping up behind the both of them.

"Break," she whispered, "there´s someone..."

"...Right behind you with a gun ready to shoot, if you don´t comply to our wishes" A dark voice finished her sentence and she could feel something cold and hard inbetween her shoulderblades.

"Don´t do anything funny, you clown, or I´ll shoot the lady." The voice snarled. And Sharon knew that with that, they had Break completely under control. If they had threatened to kill him, he wouldn´t have cared at all, since he had the opinion that he was going to die anyway soon, he would have just beaten them up pretty badly and taken the risk. But Break would never risk someone elses life dear to him, especially not hers. He was her knight after all.

Her knight just growled. "Fine. What can we do for you? Tea? Cookies?" Break released her from his hug and was immediately punished for his sharp tongue by a hit on the head.

"I said nothing funny." The voice hissed.

"Funny? Me? I´ve never had a sense of humour" Break teased.

The shadow holding the gun just growled. "Go now, move." The second shadow that had sneaked up to Break followed silently behind them, still keeping himself to the background.

They led the two of them through the huge hall to the door leading to the gangway and were rudely pushed forward anytime they had to slow down, so as not to bump into somebody. Trying to reassure her, Break cautiously reached out for her hand, gently squeezing it shortly before letting it go again, very much to Sharon´s disappointment. Now more than ever, she wished for his presence as near as possible. As they reached the corridor, Sharon blinked a few times as her eyes adjusted to the sudden light, but her kidnappers didn´t give her a break, they just shoved her forward, making her stumble, after they had bound together their hands, disabling them of any move for fist combat.

"Where are you..."

"No questions" the guy with the gun bellowed as they continued through a small passage leading to the wing with the guest quarters. They jolted them into a small, darkened room and locked the door behind them after entering.

Sharon´s first impression was that there seemed to be a balcony window open, because a soft summer breeze cooled the sweat from her forehead as she moved into the pitch of black.

Then, one by one, candles were lit, illuminating the room in a light golden glow. She couldn´t see the faces of her predators just yet, but she could guess from the diminuating sound of footsteps that Break was pushed over to the couch in the middle of the room, while she was being walked over to the bed, still covered in unused sheets.

"What do you want from me?" Her voice tried to sound calm, but it also had an undefined hardness in it. She most certainly knew now that this had all been a setup from Sir Idiotism, yet she hadn´t seen him since she had started to dance with Break. But she also had been much to distracted and happy to have a look out for that spiv.

"It´s easy."

The second man now turned to her and the blood in her veins froze. Sir Assholes hair was a real mess, he looked like he had had a fight with a hurricane and his eyes were no longer blue, but deep red with dark circles under his eyes.

The first one, the one that had threatened to kill her with the gun, now grinned. "I´ll leave you to it, then. Just kill the lady, then the clown won´t do anything" Break just smirked. But Sharon knew better. This was a situation were the war had to be carried out via pschology and not physiology. And war had been declared, because no one, especially not him, would ever dare disturb such a precious moment to her and get away with it unharmed.

"Then enlighten me, I´m not a quick thinker," she hissed.

"Well, as you surely noticed, I tried to gain your hand in a dance, but unfortunately,..." he made a theatrical pause.

"Thankfully..." Sharon suggested.

He glared at her. "...Unfortunately, in vain. Now you surely ask yourself why I did that.., well I..."

"...You just wanted to bat your eyelashes at me, so I would be charmed..." she interrupted him. "Now, just a guess here, let´s say, I hypothetically go for that and find you attractive enough to dance with you more often, thus giving you more opportunity to lure me into the trap of me falling for you. After the ball, we would have had more and more contact, and then, if had been stupid enough, I even would have married you. So, concluding, you would be now the head of Pandora Organisation and could do with it what you want..."

"If you knew, then why did you theoretically agree to dance with me the third time around?" he asked sarcastically. But altough he obviously tried to keep his cool, he could hide the fact that he was extremely surprised that a woman had gotten behind his plan. Granted, not the best of plans, but anyway, she was a woman, she shouldn´t have been able to see through his intentions, at least so he thought.

She hid a smile. "Let´s just say, I had a feeling that my angel would watch over me. And besides, your idiotic plan has one flaw."

Encouraged by a raised eyebrow, she concluded

"You underestimated me. And just because I´m a woman. It´s a shame for you, that your miserable life will end a brief amount of time."

"I think not." He pulled out the gun and pointed it at Sharon. "Do you value your life?"

She snorted. "Of course I do. Everyone does, with the exeption of deluded, crazy or extremely arrogant persons. But although I value it, I would surely be willing to lay it down for the people I love."

"Love." Sir Rendersom snarled. "Is the most unimportant and useless thing in this crappy world."

Sharon´s eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "Look, obviously, we´re not getting anywhere here. I know your plan, so what do you want from me?"

She was just glad that Break hadn´t said anything yet, that encreased the possibility of Mr. Idiot here forgetting him, thus giving Xerxes an escape possibility to go and fetch reinforcements.

" Well, actually this makes things a bit easier. Now I don´t have to flatter you to give me what I want."

"What is it you actually want?" Sharon got impatient, only irritating her kidnapper by her behaviour. Any victim he had taken before had either shut her mouth and cried silently or begged him for mercy.

He tried to regain his pokerface and went over, kneeling down before her. Lifting her chin with his finger, he spoke to her with his husky voice she now so detested.

"I want you to hand over the controls for the Organisation. I want to know everything about the chain called Alice and..." he shot a glance at Break who just sat there by the couch, making himself comfortable. "...I want every information about Sablier and Glen."

"Don´t mind my asking, but do I look like I know such stuff?" Break asked casually.

Sir Rendersom snorted again and stood up, pointing the gun in his direction. "Don´t play funny with me, Mad Hatter, You´ll really regret it, I swear."

"Please don´t. Swearing is very rude, you know? It´s not opportune for a gentleman of high society to swear." Break joked.

Sir Idiotism went over to him, his face a grim mask of hatred. Then, he directed his gun towards his chest and smiled slyly as he released the safety catch of the weapon and slowly, his finger closed in on the trigger.

"You asked for it."

Breaks eye widened in shock as the bullet penetrated his flesh, grazing his lung only and inch away from his heart. Blood spattered from his mouth as his internal wound nearly made him go crazy at the pain. Like a fly in amber, he saw the floor coming towards him, only in slow motion did he hear Lady Sharon yell his name as he cast his last glance upon her crying face, filled with shock and pain and he swore to always remember her. Maybe it was this last thought that made him smile one last time, maybe it was the thought of it finally being all over, he didn´t know.

He wasn´t conscious anymore when he hit the floor.

The next thing he felt was emptyness.

* * *

Sir Rendersom only laughed evilly at the dramatic atmosphere.

"That´s what you get for not obeying my orders."

Then, turning towards his second victim, a small, ever so evil smile curled on his lips. With tear pricked eyes, Sharon looked upon his wicked face, drawing closer to her with every breath.

"You´re a monster." She whispered. "But nontheless, I won´t give you what you want."

"Oh, but you will."

"My, what a original reply." She mocked. Even now, under these circumstances did she try to confuse him, still searching for a way out of this. Because she would get out of this. Alive. And together with Break.

With Break, because he wasn´t dead. She could feel that. The moment the bullet hat hit him, she would have gladly layed down her life to save him, but she knew he would get up again. If you love someone, you simply know.

"You know, that line was already used in Frances Hogson Burnetts 'The secret Garden', in Jane Austen´s 'Mansfield Park' and in Lewis Carrol´s 'Alice in Wonderland`." She continued. "So there, a typical cliché. Kill me if you wish, but I won´t do what you tell me."

Her brabbeling sure had an unsettling effect on her opponent, so much she could see.

"I don´t care. But maybe you´ll be more willing to do as I please after I will have made you mine." He hissed, tracing her jawline with his finger. She only growled in response and leaned her head back as much as possible, so as to elude him, but unfortunately, her uncomfortable position didn´t allow much latitude.

"You know, I´ve always wondered how good you are. And not only on the dancing floor, mind you." And there was that grin again.

Slowly, his slender fingers began unbuttoning the back of her dress, and she could do nothing about it, but watch helplessly as one by one, her hooks unclasped and she could feel the cloth slide down her shoulders.

"You´ll certainly regret this." Her voice grew more and more desperate with every word.

He only grinned. "Now who´s using clishés?" But he stopped opening her up and knelt even closer to her, placing one knee inbetween her legs, letting his suit coat glide down his shoulder, revealing his muscular stature. But Sharon stayed unimpressed. He would pay for this. With his life.

* * *

When Break woke up again, he closed his eye in irritation. He felt like he was in the Abyss, but it was much to bright for that.

A deep, hollow voice laughed and the sound echoed throughout every corner of his very soul, as he slowly got up and turned around to see where he was.

"So, we´ve woken up, haven´t we?"

"Who are you?"

The voice laughed again. "Oh come on, Break, you know me. Better than the back of your hand, if I may add."

His eye widened. Slowly turning around, he then came to face his own Chain.

"Mad Hatter."

"At your service."

"Where am I here?"

His chain chuckled. "You´re somewhere between Abyss and the so called reality. Some people would call this heaven other hell, whatever you preferences are. But I like to call Nirvana"

"Then why not 'The great infinity', if you´re at it." Break suggested.

"Smartass."

"At your service. But honestly, why am I not, how should I put this, FULLY dead?"

"You are...up to some point. But the thing is, well, call it fate, nature, a horse, whatever, SOMETHING brought you here to give something to you."

"And what would that be."

"The choice."

"Between...?" Break grew impatient.

"Dying and returning to your previous destination."

"My previous...?"

"It is possible, you know..."

Mad Hatter swirled around, creating something like a window through which Break could see the room where he had previously been shot. He could also somewhat sense his dead body lying somewhere by the couch and then he could see...Sharon. Now it was true that he couldn´t see very well, but when it came to her, he could feel her so clearly, as if he had never suffered the loss of his eyesight. Her voice was burnt into his memories, her features in his mind as sharp as the original. And now he sensed...Fear. In a mixture with hate, anger and most of all...desperation. He gritted his teeth as he saw why she was feeling like that. Sir Baka was leaning over her, placing two hands on her back and he seemed to be opening the first hook of her dress.

Break snorted. "You´re connection is really bad. Try getting another provider."

Mad Hatter sighed. "Yeah, I kinda get that a lot. Now if you´re wondering, as to why they´re moving so slowly,..."

"I know." Break interrupted. "Time in Abyss goes by more quickly than in reality. Therefore, it seems to us that the outside is moving very slowly."

"Oh, so you payed attention, when Reim explains something?" Hatter mocked.

"Yes, for once in my life. But only because I was bored."

Then, Xerxes put a finger to his chin and started pacing up and down. He stopped abruptely when his chain asked what he was thinking so intensively about.

"What do I have to do, to get back out there again?"

"So you wanna go?"

He snorted again."Of course I wanna go out and kicking again. Besides, you don´t think I would let her be groped by such a perverted..." he took a deep breath, calming himself down "...I don´t know any adjective polite enough to keep this conversation T rated, so I´ll just stick with asshole."

Hatter chuckled. "Fine. You can go. I´ll think about the price when your time comes."

"Wait...So I can go without paying?"

"I told you, this isn´t the Abyss, nor the Grand Central Station. Be careful on your way and don´t lose and money." With that, the image of his chain fade away more and more into the distance, until an excruciatingly bright ray of light forced him to close his eyes as he felt that he was beeing sucked into something.

The next thing he knew was, that felt something fluffy against his cheek.

The good news was: the fluffy thing waas the carpet spread throughout the room.

The bad one was: when he tried to move, it hurt like hell.

He could hear Sir Asshole mumbling something and from the volume of his voice, he could judge that he was very near now to Miss Sharon. He didn´t dare open his eyes yet, but he distinctly could hear what the two of them were tlking about.

"Now who´s using clichés?"

Using clichés? That guy was one hell of a personification of a cliché. This was the type of bad guy that simply had this look on his face which screamed I am an incompetent good for nothing, please shoot me. Break dared to peek from inbetween a half closed lid and what he saw maded him want to jump up and start killing everyone in perimeter of a hundered metres. This bitching slut of a faggot was trying to lay her down. Oh, he would pay for this. With his life.

But when he listened closely, he could hear people in the room below, anxiously whispering and crying. They hadn´t only kidnapped the two of them, but this also seemed to be a major operation. But this idiot surely couldn´t have done it alone. And as he thought it out, Break had to come to the conclusion that somebody, maybe even Sir Idiot himself had to have a chain, otherwise a plan this big would have never functioned.

"You´ll be mine. For ever."

And anger arose in his chest. Lady Sharon belonged to no one but to him and most certainly not to someone who didn´t even deserve her grace.

Her kindness, her smile, the endearment of her movements, her love for poetry and beauty in life and her love towards all of those she held dear, was everything to him. She was everything to him. And he was her knight after all. But he knew that if he wanted to stop this, he would have to access the power of Mad Hatter, which could drive every energy from him. But if it was to protect her, he would try.

And summoning the power inside, he could feel it run through his veins.

"You don´t impress me with your words." Sharon hissed furiously as her predator leaned over her. To her surprise, he untied her hands.

"If it is not with words that I can impress you, then what about with deeds?" came the smug reply. The bitchslap made him realize that undoing her hands hadn´t been such a good idea after all.

"Don´t you dare touch me." he lower lip trembled as spat those words at him, but as she tried to evade him, her strength failed her. She had so long kept her muscles tense from fear that she couldn´t move them anymore. In the darkness of the room she was glad that she could only see his face in the moonlight shadow.

"Now don´t worry, this won´t hurt as much as you think." His breath came closer and closer.

As she closed her eyes, to at least gather her strength for a runaway, she felt the floor tremble slightly. And a warm, comfortable feeling settled itself in her chest as if she knew. Carefully daring a glance from between her eyelashes, she peeked towards where Break had previously been lying, only to find the place...empty.

A malicious smile graced her lips. So she had been right. He wasn´t dead. And now there was hope that this crazy jackass would be stopped to his world overtaking plans.

"You know..." she began. "I really sorry to break it to you, but...you´ve lost the game."

She only recieved an irritated look. "Now why´s that?"

"Congratulations on the superb accoplishment of your plan, but in your calculations, you missed out an important factor."

Sir Rendersom chuckled. "I don´t think so. You´re just trying to distract me from doing this to you."

Then, he nearly fell over backwards, as the room now shook with the intensity of an earthquake.

"You better take your hands from that lady or I´ll stick my foot so far up your ass that you can scrath your nonexistent brains simply by nodding."

Completely taken by surprise and off guard, Sir Asshole jumped around. Break was floating in the air, and behind him, Mad Hatter opened his eye.

"In your calculations, Sir Idiot, you didn´t include the fact that I am extremely, overly and utterly stubborn, especially when it comes to things like dying."

Sir Rendersom simply huffed. "You don´t think you can keep this up for long, can you, old man?"

Break grinned evilly. "You´ll only get out of here dead, Charlie, and I´ll make sure that the deed is done properly." And as he spoke, a red light flashed where his left eye had used to be, whilst his other one glowed in a similar way. And Sharon knew that now was the time where Break completely unleashed his crazyness to his full extent, becuse if you could handle a Chain like Mad Hatter, you had to be crazy to some point. She didn´t dare move, so as to not break his concentration, but she couldn´t help smiling as the tears of relief streamed down her cheeks.

Suddenly, chains of metal started to fly out of nowhere, laying themselves around the Duke´s body, rendering him completely immobile.

"You haven´t seen my last trump yet, clown" he then hissed, returning the grin. And now behind him, a huge fat rat started to rise, gawking in hatred at the Chaindevourer. Break gritted his teeth and then, he completely let go of his madness.

You yould also say hell broke loose.

Claws, jaws, and other unnameable body parts flew threw the air, trying to tear the enemy to shreds. Break´s chains flew here and there, foiling every attempt of the rat to get to Break, while Mad Hatter started swirling around, trying to confuse the enemy and heating up the air with electricity. Sir Rendersom had successfully freed himself from his chains and was fighting his way to Break, ducking from flying chairs and chains. But Sharon realized that he wouldn´t be able to make it if she didn´t do something. Remembering something and being unable to stand upright, she dragged herself to the desk not far away and opened a drawer, from which she drew a paperknife.

"Hold on, Break, I´ll help you." she mumbled. Using Eques was out of the question, since was so weak and that didn´t leave her any option but to kill that guy herself. And with the last bit of strenght she had available, she pulled herself up and made her way to the two monsters in the middle of the room, fighting as if tomorrow was never to come. Sir Rendersom didn´t see her coming, he was still to busy making his way through the hurricane they had created, having only his goal in mind. Killing that clown. For good, this time.

"Charles" Sharon yelled.

Surprised, he turned his face to where the voice was coming from.

"Don´t ever underestimate a woman." She shouted.

Her next move slit his throat with a clean cut and he fell to the ground, his eyes rigid with fear. But it wasn´t quite over yet. Mad Hatter grinned.

"I know a good price Break. Let´s trade your soul for his and the one of his chain." With that, a huge whirlpool opened, taking the dead body and the rat with it.

"Then your debt for this one is paid. Was nice meeting ya all" he laughed before disappearing himself in the pitch of darkness.

Next, everything fell. The room silent, Sharon to the ground and Break next to her. Covered with perls of sweat, Sharon tried to regain her breath. She had never been so afraid in her life. Realizing that Break was next to her, unconscious, she took his head on her lap and started talking to him.

"Please Break. Now don´t you dare leave me. Do you understand?"

Silent tears cut down her voice. She certainly wouldn´t let him die here in her arms. That would be simply too much lovestory cliché for her to take.

"Did you leave some cake for me?"

She blinked in surprised. Break chuckled and slowly sat up, leaning against the now completely shredded couch which showed the traces of their fight.

"Is...Is liquor fine too?" she laughed and cried at the same time. Not being able to hold back any longer, she let herself sing into a comforting embrace.

"Oh Break..."

His genuine smile appeared again, as he slowly wiped away the blood he had coughed up and that was dripping from his chin. And as tender as you would stroke a rose, he returned the hug, gently pulling her against him, resting his head on hers.

She allowed herself to stay there for a while, when she suddenly felt a finger brush away her tears.

"It´s fine. We did it."

She couldn´t do anything but to nod into him.

And just like once before, he gave her a tender kiss on her forehead.

Surprised, she looked up at him, her lilac irises waiting, even longing for him to say something. And in response, he simply kissed away her tears, one by one, gently moving downwards, until he finally met her lips.

Words failed to describe what she felt at that moment, she only knew that she had passed her arms around his neck, wishing for to never have to let him go. His lips were soft and comforting, a little salty from her tears, but even more wonderful that she had ever imagined in her dreams. She didn´t know how this kiss had come to be, yet she dreaded its end. But for now, she simply enjoyed the comfort of his arms around her.

When he softly pulled away, he too wished he hadn´t. He could still taste her silky scent and longed for more, but for now, he contented himself with simply holding her in his arms.

* * *

It turned out Mad Hatter had also taken care of the other villains with the help of Gil, Oz and Alice and when they searched the house for Lady Sharon, they found her unconscious in Breaks arms, who had managed to carry her to the ball room and after he had carefully layed her down, he passed out too.

He woke up with a headache like after a hangover, but the internal bleedings had stopped and he could move halfway through the room without yelling in pain and agony. Also had his wounds been cleaned, his bandages taken care of and he found himself in a big and comfortable bed. When he opened his eye, his friends were all waiting for him.

Gil, Oz Alice, Reim and of course Sharon.

They visited him day after day and once, after they all had wished him good luck for the healing and left him some peace, only Sharon stayed behind.

Blushing, she sat down on the corner of his bed, still smiling gracefully at him.

"I´m glad you´re going to recover soon."

"Yeah, well,... are you sure,... I feel this kind of stingy pain in my little left toe" Break teased.

She giggled and went sitting face to face with him, as he sat up and leaned against the cushion behind him. Her small, white hands were placed next to his, but she didn´t dare take it.

"Break...back then...after the fight...when you kissed me." she felt herself flushing as she spoke those words.

"...was that...was it meant like this?"

She had been rolling this over and over in her thoughts and now she wanted the clarity that he really loved her back and that he hadn´t just kissed her to comfort her or make her feel safe.

He leaned forward, putting a finger under her chin.

"That kiss was meant solely for the purpose of telling you how much feel for you, that I´m glad you are alive and that I would have done anything for you and would still do. That I love you."

With that he closed the gap once again. And this time, the kiss grew to be a little more enthusiastic than the last one.

"I love you too" she whispered happily in his arms.

* * *

**The END! Sooooo, who noticed my 'Tangled' referrence? And how did you like the kiss? And while you´re at it, simply review the whole story ´kay?** **^^ Again,** **sorry for the long wait, but I think this as an extra long chapter to soothe the thirst of those who have waited so long, is kind of a worthy excuse, don´t you think? **


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